Physical Decline of Pitcairn
p. 32 · Read in the full issue
Islanders
IN the last 20 years the descendants of the “Bounty” mutineers on Pitcairn Island have declined physically to a marked degree, said Mr. T. Cunningham, who reached Sydney from London by the “Ormonde” on September 22. “It is only a matter of time before they will be ex tinct, owing to the constant inbreeding”, he stated.
After an interval of 17 years he made his second visit to Pitcairn on the “Arawa”, which called at the isolated little island in May, in response to a radio for medical assistance to cope with an outbreak of typhoid fever. The “Arawa’s” doctor went to the settlement to investigate, and hastily returned to the ship to confiscate baskets and fruit bought by Mr. Cunning ham from the Islanders. The goods were returned after they had been'disinfected; This is the origin of the story of typhoid on Pitcairn, referred to elsewhere.